Operated by three army personnel, led by Second Sergeant J. H. Manullang, the mobile library serves the students of Sota Village, Merauke District, Papua Province, the task force's commander, Lt Col Anjuanda Pardosi, noted in a statement on Wednesday.
The mobile library serves students living in the Indonesia-PNG border area amid the ongoing global pandemic of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that has disrupted learning activities at schools.
The mobile library service is envisaged to stir local students to develop a habit of reading since it will broaden their mind and expand their knowledge of several aspects of life. "Books serve as a window of the world," he emphasized.
Through books offered by the mobile library service, a habit of reading can be cultivated among the local students, Pardosi affirmed, adding that apart from rousing their curiosity, the free library service is also part of the task force's territorial operational program.
The residents of Sota Village welcome the mobile library service offered by the border security task force.
"We thank the task force personnel for their care for our kids," stated Alfons Katop, a resident of Sota Village in Sota Sub-district, Merauke District, whose administrative area is part of the Indonesia-PNG border area.
According to ANTARA, the development of human resources remains a tricky challenge for Papua and West Papua as the human development index of scores of these provinces remains lower as compared to that of other provinces in Indonesia.
Referring to Indonesia's 2019 human development index, the scores of Papua and West Papua were recorded at 64.7 and 60.84 respectively.
However, at the global level, Indonesia's human development index ranks behind several other countries.
As the world's fourth most populous country, Indonesia had yet to rank among the world’s most literate nations.
John W. Miller's study in collaboration with Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) in 2016 indicated that the top 10 most literate nations are Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, Germany, Latvia, and the Netherlands.
The study of Miller, a noted researcher of CCSU, further revealed that Indonesia had ranked 60th out of the 61 countries. Its rank was better than just that of Botswana though far left behind by Singapore, ranking 36th, and Malaysia at 53rd position.
Miller’s 2016 study synthesized "literacy achievement tests (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and Programme for International Student Assessment) and literate behavior characteristics (population, newspapers, libraries, years of schooling)".
Miller asserted that a nation's literate behaviors contribute to its successes and failures in dealing with the demands of the world's knowledge-based economics.
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EDITED BY INE
Translator: Muhsidin, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2020
